Category: Release

Chablis Invests €4.8M in innovative methanation system for winegrowers

The BIVB in Chablis has confirmed that the Chablis Winegrowers Union is to implement a new innovative methanation system that will recycle all by-products from the winemaking process. This is a breakthrough in the region’s move toward greater sustainability.

The £4.8m methanation facility is expected to be up and running by the fall of 2021. It follows a six-month study in Belgium to test the feasibility of the project using a ‘pilot’ system, with wine by-products brought over from Chablis to find the most efficient method of methanation.

Methanation is the conversion of carbon oxides and hydrogen to methane and water through hydrogenation. It can also be used as a means of producing a synthetic natural gas, and as a way to store energy produced from solar or wind power, which would allow it to serve as a potential carbon capture mechanism.

Last month the Union’s general assembly voted in favour of the project.

The methanisation processing area will be located in the south of Chablis where 700 winemakers, belonging to the Union, will be able to bring the by-products of their winemaking to be processed.

Grape pomace will be passed through a machine to separate any seeds, which research found unsuitable for the process. These will instead be set aside for alternative uses such as cosmetics.

The remaining wine pomace will then be placed in covered silos where the fermentation process begins; then finally into the methanisation machine.

The biogas (gasses) produced by the machine will be directly injected into the Gaz Réseau Distribution France (GRDF) circuits, the natural gas distribution network in France. The remaining product left in the machine will be sold as fertilizer.

Louis Moreau, president of the BIVB Chablis, said: “We are proud to be one of the first wine regions to put in place a methanation process of this kind and on this scale as well. Sustainability is a key focus for Chablis and the rest of Bourgogne so our winemakers are always looking at new innovations on both small and large scale projects.

“We believe the new system will be a success and with a younger generation of winemakers who have traveled the world for their studies and then come home to Chablis, we will work hand-in-hand with them to bring in new practices to protect the environment and our terroir.”

https://www.chablis-wines.com/what-is-the-bivb/what-is-the-bivb,1872,7709.html?

Soave Adopts Cru System

After a lengthy process that started a number of years ago, the Soave DOC has officially adopted a hierarchical, Burgundian-style classification system, where ‘cru’ sites sit at the top of the quality spectrum.

The new DOC regulations will feature 33 distinct cru areas that have been selected for their potential to yield grapes of superior nature.

As of next vintage, these are the crus (officially called Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive) you will find on Soave labels:

Castelcerino, Colombara Froscà, Fittà, Foscarino, Volpare, Tremenalto, Carbonare, Tenda, Corte Durlo, Rugate, Croce, Costalunga, Coste, Zoppega, Menini, Monte Grande, Ca’ del Vento, Castellaro, Pressoni, Broia, Brognoligo, Costalta, Paradiso, Costeggiola, Casarsa, Monte di Colognola, Campagnola, Pigno, Duello, Sengialta, Ponsarà, Roncà – Monte Calvarina.

Most of the crus, whose vineyard area covers 40% of the appellation, are found on Soave’s hillsides, with 29 out of 33 located within the prized Soave Classico area.

The selection process, which started back in 2000, involved a number of factors that affect fruit quality, including altitude and gradient of the hills as well as training system.

‘The approval of the crus is another great step forward for our appellation,’ commented Aldo Lorenzoni, director of the Consorzio di Tutela del Soave. ‘The place of origin of the grapes has always been a crucial part of our communication strategy.’

Sustainable, Organic, Lower-alcohol and Alternative Wine go Mainstream

A recent Sola Report from Wine Intelligence highlights that there is a huge opportunity for the industry to produce more alternative wines.

The Sola Report is an acronym for the alternative wines sector, which includes sustainable, organic, lower-alcohol and other alternative wines. The Sola Report tracks how the alternative wine market changes from year to year, and includes an opportunity index, which crosses 11 markets and 12 sub-categories – this determines where Sola wines have the greatest chance of success.

Emily Carroll, who compiled the report for Wine Intelligence, said the “prominence of the organic movement continues to be evident: organic wine tops the Sola wine opportunity index for the second year in a row, most likely due to the popularity of organic food across the world.

“Following closely behind is Fairtrade wine and generic concept wines ‘sustainably produced’ and ‘environmentally friendly’— all three types associated with a blend of social, economic and environmental responsibility.”

She said increasing awareness among consumers for alternative wines was the result of a “fundamental shift in consumer attitudes, led by the younger generation. What was once seen as ‘hippy’ is now the mainstream, with many consumers, particularly those under the age of 45, adopting socially, environmentally and economically responsible habits. This requires companies to act more ethically responsible and more transparent, which naturally also applies to the wine industry”.

She added that “younger wine drinkers present the most opportunity for alternative wines due to their open-minded attitudes and willingness to invest time, education and money into their health. Young wine drinkers are not only more likely to purchase alternative wines such as organic, Fairtrade or sustainable wines compared with older drinkers, but are also more willing in general to pay a premium for wine in the off- and on-trade”.

However, she said, the challenge would be to “engage this cohort with the alternative wine category, as younger consumers are very much attuned to other drinks categories, like craft beer and gin, and also are less likely to be participants in the alcoholic beverage category to begin with”.

She also said there is “less appeal for alternative wines with more complex titles including orange or skin contact wine as well as biodynamic wine. Interestingly, even though veganism and vegetarianism is on the rise, these two Sola wine categories rank the lowest in the 2019 global Sola wine opportunity index”.

The first Sola report was released in 2018. It surveyed consumer sentiment towards 12 alternative wine types in 11 key wine markets, looking at awareness, purchase intent and affinity towards alternative wines. The 2019 report has been expanded to include vegetarian wine and five new markets and is “now representative of 250 million regular wine drinkers from a broad spread of geography, culture and economic development”.

Liz Palmer elected to the board of Federation Internationale des Journalistes et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux (FIJEV)

I’m soooo excited! I’ve just been elected to the board of Fédération Internationale des Journalistes et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux (FIJEV) at a meeting held today at Vinexpo – Bordeaux!

About FIJEV
The International Federation of Wine and Spirit Journalist and Writers/Fédération Internationale des Journalistes et Écrivains des Vins et Spiritueux (FIJEV) is a French non-profit association created in 1987 and is based in Paris. Its goal is to promote contacts between wine journalists and writers all over the world and to defend their profession. Beyond providing an international press card, aims at helping its members to establish contacts to editors, newspapers, and magazines in other countries; assure the recognition of its members by the producers, publishers, public relations’ organisations and all members of the trade; create contacts between organisations of the wine and spirit business organising press presentation (events, tours) and its journalist members; defend its journalist members and the freedom of the press; respect of a common code of ethics.

Who
FIJEV has more than 400 members in 60 countries.

Liz Palmer

IronGate.Wine becomes the first online wine retailer to accept cryptocurrency

IronGate.Wine, a leading online retailer of private, rare wine collections, has announced that they have completed testing and will immediately begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as payment methods for their online inventory of vintage wine. Utilizing the processing system provided by BitPay, IronGate.Wine will allow buyers from all over the world to shop for vintage wine from the cellars of private collectors using this form of currency.

“We are very excited to be the first online retailer of our kind to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for the incredible wines that we have available,” said IronGate.Wine President, Warren Porter. “Our research has shown that the adoption of cryptocurrency is on the rise and we want our customers to be able to use whatever payment form they prefer. We view Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash as a currency, not unlike the Dollar or Euro and know that our customers would like the option of spending it on this luxury item.”

Porter continued, “aside from convenience, the fraud-proof nature of crypto compared to credit cards will completely eliminate fraudulent transactions. In addition, accepting crypto payments greatly decreases our processing fees compared to credit cards. IronGate.Wine is consistently one of the lowest-priced providers in the United States of fine and rare wine, but we can be even more competitive by further reducing our processing costs by several percentage points.”

“Bitcoin is a global currency and will allow international buyers to purchase wine cheaper and more quickly than credit cards and bank wires,” said Sonny Singh, Chief Commercial Officer at BitPay. “One of the biggest headaches merchants have today is chargebacks, and for online merchants this headache is compounded with the added risks of identity theft and fraud. BitPay leverages the promise cryptocurrency provides with transactional transparency. It is impossible to use cryptocurrency for fraud as every transaction is verified, recorded and stored on the blockchain. Further, as a push transaction, similar to taking cash out of a wallet, the user sends the exact amount of Bitcoin needed to pay the bill. This eliminates traditional credit card fraud and identity theft risks associated with credit cards. As a result, there are no chargebacks.”

In addition to Bitcoin, IronGate.Wine accepts all major credit cards, ACH and wire transactions, and will soon be expanding to accept AliPay, WeChat Pay and Apple Pay to round out the most comprehensive array of payment options in the industry.

Based in upstate New York and shipping worldwide, IronGate.Wine is an online retailer of vintage wines meticulously sourced from private collectors throughout the United States and Canada. Currently, there are over 2,500  unique wines available for purchase through the website, which will grow to over 4,000 in the next four weeks.